All Tech Considered

4:21 pm

Tue February 21, 2012

Twitter Diplomacy: State Department 2.0

Robert Ford (left), the U.S. ambassador to Syria, speaks to an unidentified U.S. military attache during a guided government tour in the northern Syrian town of Jisr al-Shughur last June. The U.S. has closed its embassy in Syria owing to security concerns, but Ford is using Facebook to stay involved in the country.

Louai BesharaAFP/Getty Images

The U.S. evacuated the staff of its embassy in Damascus earlier this month owing to security issues. But that hasn't stopped Robert Ford, the U.S. ambassador to Syria, from using social media to keep in touch with events on the ground, and to try to shape them.

Ford is part of a new generation of diplomats using online tools such as Facebook and Twitter to get their message out. In fact, these days, U.S. diplomats take a course in what one State Department official calls "21st century statecraft" before they head out to their assignments.

"I tell all our ambassadors, remember, you only have one mouth but you have two ears, so use this as a way not just of communicating with the citizens of the country where you are serving, but also understanding the point of view of people who may not be sitting at a mahogany table inside the embassy," says Alec Ross, the State Department's senior adviser on innovation.

Sitting at such a table in the State Department's rare books room recently, Ross says it wasn't an easy start for Ford, the ambassador in Syria. He had early run-ins with pro-government bloggers, known as the Syrian Electronic Army.

But instead of "curling up into the fetal position," says Ross, Ford responded to the Syrian Electronic Army's misinformation. Many Syrians also turned against the pro-regime bloggers, who then retreated, Ross says.

Ross points to another ambassador, Michael McFaul in Russia, who is using social media to counter what's being said about him in the Russian press.

"Today if somebody is lying about you in the media — and there have been plenty of things that are factually inaccurate written about Ambassador McFaul — we now have the tools to get the real facts out there," Ross says.

Adapting To Social Media Tools

McFaul seems to be online 24 hours a day, batting back rumors, writing about his reset of relations with Russia or talking about date nights with his wife. John Brown, who teaches public diplomacy at Georgetown University, wonders if the ambassador can keep up that pace.

"I'm concerned about this, as someone who was involved in public diplomacy for over 20 years on behalf of our government, mostly in Eastern Europe, and ultimately, what's most important about public diplomacy in my view is not Facebook to Facebook, but face to face," he says.

Brown also says that the State Department still seems to be of two minds, promoting social media while also trying to control the message and keep tabs on personal blogs of foreign service officers.

Former State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley was known for his pithy tweets — and for the heartburn they occasionally caused. For example, here's one of his tweets last year, after a government shake-up by Egypt's then-President Hosni Mubarak: "Egypt can't just reshuffle the deck and stand pat."

Crowley says the bureaucracy needs time to get used to these tools.

"Twitter is the ultimate tool for one-liners. I once had a tweet on some subject and someone was concerned about it and said, 'You lost the nuance,' " Crowley recalls. "And I said, at 140 characters, there is no nuance to Twitter."

Taking Risks, But Not Too Many

Crowley, who now teaches at Penn State's Dickinson School of Law and School of International Affairs, says ambassadors will undoubtedly get into trouble every now and then. But to be effective, they have to put themselves out there.

"The conduct of diplomacy is going to have to be much more decentralized than it has in the past, and that involves educated risk-taking," Crowley says. "That's the kind of thing you see a Mike McFaul and Robert Ford doing. They got to their posts and rather than sitting on the sidelines, they jumped into the pool."

The ambassadors to Thailand, Zimbabwe and Japan are winning high praise from Ross, the State Department's social media guru. He doesn't sound too worried about missteps.

"Social media is a lot less risky medium than live television — you can edit yourself, you can think ahead of time before you hit send," Ross says. "I actually think that if you look at the vast amount of communication that this administration has done over social media over the last few years, it's actually shocking that there have been as few mistakes as there have been."

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Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

Ever since the U.S. ambassador to Syria left the country, Robert Ford has been using social media to monitor events on the ground and try to shape them. On his Facebook page, Ford has posted satellite images of tanks moving on cities and a pipeline fire spreading toxic fumes.

As NPR's Michele Kelemen reports, the State Department has been encouraging ambassadors like Ford to engage in social media diplomacy.

MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Before ambassadors head out on assignment, they get a course in what Alec Ross calls 21st century statecraft.

ALEC ROSS: I tell all our ambassadors, remember you only have one mouth but you have two ears. So use this as a way not just to communicating with the citizens of the country where you're serving, but also understanding the point of view of people who may not be sitting with you at a mahogany table inside the embassy.

KELEMEN: Sitting at such a table in the State Department's Rare Books Room, the senior advisor on innovation says it wasn't an easy start for Ambassador Ford in Syria. He had early run-ins with pro-government bloggers, known as the Syrian electronic army.

ROSS: What we could have done is we could have curled into the fetal position and said, oh, well, this didn't work. On the contrary, what Ambassador Ford did is he responded to some of the misinformation that was published by the Syrian electronic army. And the real Syrian citizens themselves then lashed out against the Syrian electronic army.

KELEMEN: And the army retreated, Ross says. He also points to another ambassador, Michael McFaul in Russia, using social media to counter what's being said about him in the Russian press.

ROSS: Today, if somebody is lying about you in the media - and there have been plenty of things that are factually inaccurate written about Ambassador McFaul - we now have the tools to be able to get the real facts out there.

KELEMEN: McFaul seems to be online 24 hours a day, batting back rumors, writing about his reset of relations with Russia, or talking his date nights with his wife. John Brown, who teaches public diplomacy at Georgetown University, wonders if the ambassador can keep up that pace.

PROFESSOR JOHN BROWN: I'm concerned about this, especially as someone who was involved in public diplomacy for over 20 years on behalf of our government, mostly in Eastern Europe. And, you know, ultimately what's most important about public diplomacy in my view, is not Facebook to Facebook, but face to face

KELEMEN: Brown also says that the State Department still seems to be of two minds, promoting social media while also trying to control the message and keep tabs on personal blogs of Foreign Service officers.

Former State Department spokesman PJ Crowley remembers causing some heartburn when he tweeted about Hosni Mubarak last year, saying Egypt can't just reshuffle the deck and stand pat. Crowley was known for his pithy tweets and says the bureaucracy needs time to get used to these tools.

P.J. CROWLEY: Twitter is the ultimate tool for one-liners. I mean, I once had a tweet on some subject and someone was concerned about it, and said you lost the nuance. And I said, well, you know, at 140 characters there is no nuance to Twitter.

KELEMEN: Crowley, who now teaches at Penn State's Dickinson School of Law and School of International Affairs, says ambassadors will undoubtedly get into trouble every now and then. But to be effective, they have to put themselves out there.

CROWLEY: The conduct of diplomacy is going to have to be much more decentralized than it has been in the past. And that involves educated risk-taking, that's the kind of thing you see a Mike McFaul and Robert Ford doing. You know, they got to their posts and rather than sitting on the sidelines, they jumped into the pool.

KELEMEN: The U.S. ambassadors to Thailand, Zimbabwe and Japan are winning high praise from the State Department's social media guru, Alec Ross. He doesn't sound too worried about missteps.

ROSS: Social media is a lot less risky medium than live television; you can edit yourself, you can think ahead of time before you hit send. So, I actually think that if you look at the vast amount of communication that this administration has done over social media over the last few years, it's actually shocking that there have been as few mistakes as there have been.

KELEMEN: Last Christmas, U.S. officials at the United Nations tweeted a picture of Russia's ambassador in the face of the Grinch. Though it came at a tense time in U.S./Russian ties, Ross says that was a non-issue.